Cutting through the chaos, with almost two years remaining in the mayor’s current term of office, it’s obvious that democracy would be best served by putting the question to a city-wide vote. An election could also deliver clarity on another issue: whether Torontonians truly want a casino.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., international casino bosses and the Ford administration are all pushing for a gambling mega-complex in downtown Toronto. There’s general agreement, however, that this should only happen if the community wants it.

The city is in the process of obtaining public input. But if the casino debate were a game of craps, gambling advocates would be using loaded dice. That’s evident in their undue haste in pressing for a decision, in the overly optimistic official spin on the benefits of a casino, and in a public feedback process that already seems to be a foregone conclusion.

That appeared to be backed this week by an Ipsos Reid poll showing 52 per cent of Torontonians would vote in favour of a casino while 42 per cent oppose it. The survey, commissioned by the National Post among others, found support for big-time gambling rose even higher after pollsters had “educated” respondents about a casino. It’s worth noting that OLG chair Paul Godfrey also happens to be president and CEO of Postmedia, which owns the National Post. But that, surely, had no bearing on the survey result.

The best way to know what Torontonians really think is to let them vote in a referendum. That’s what happened in 1997, the last time gambling promoters came to town with big promises of easy money. Toronto residents, in their wisdom, voted two-to-one against a casino. No wonder casino advocates want to avoid another referendum — the outcome would be a gamble.

Instead they want a quick decision through a simple city council vote, with the community’s view determined by a consultant hired to gather input from the “public and stakeholders.” You can almost hear loaded dice tumbling across a craps table.

There’s hope of giving the public real say on a casino if Divisional Court judges uphold Ford’s conflict-of-interest guilt and boot him from office. The main objection to a referendum is it would cost millions of dollars. But if the city is voting for a new mayor anyway, it would cost virtually nothing to add a casino question to the ballot.

The result would be far more meaningful than any poll, focus group, consultant’s report or mayoral speculation about what people think. Then again, that sort of clarity seems exactly what gambling advocates fear. Casino operators, unlike their customers, prefer to bet on a sure thing. All the more reason to deal them a referendum wild card.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.